I don't think it's critical but I also wouldn't skip it. As you move in to higher levels of MUS concepts are often taught multiple ways to build understanding and to offer options for the student on how to work the problem. People think differently and what makes sense to one person won't necessarily click for another. I did find that when memorizing the facts it was helpful when dd was stuck on a problem like 4+5 to say, "well can you remember what 4+4 is" and she would then say, "ok, now I remember because 4+4 is 8 and 4+5 is 1 more so it's 9". You don't have to spend a lot of time on it but it is a good technique for figuring out the answer.

I'm generally pretty sensitive to that sort of thing and sentence island didn't bother me. I agree with the pp who said it doesn't seem to be a theme throughout the book and that there doesn't seem to be a hidden message that the author is trying to get across. This is totally unrelated but we saw Happy Feet 2 this past weekend and I found it to be terrible and the writers seemed to be trying way to hard too hard to get some not so subtle evolutionary ideas across. That combined with the strange side story that involved two male krill having a conversation about raising a family of adopted kids together came across as a bit forced.

:iagree: I think the ps system has led us to believe that Algebra is some big scary subject that you have to introduce at just the right time or forever scar your children. Solving for the unknown (which is basic algebra) can be done once you know some basic math skills. It makes math a little more fun and interesting in the elementary levels. One of the things I appreciate about MUS is that solving for unknowns was introduced in Alpha which is the very first most basic level. DD loved these types of problems and we've continued to introduce more difficult ones as her math skills develop.

My husband asked me the other day if dd needed to be in a less distracting environment to finish an assignment. I just laughed and told him moving her doesn't work because the distractions are in her mind so the environment can't help with that. I tell her to focus and she says okay but 10 seconds later says, "remember when we were watching Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and Flint said..." It's frustrating and the things she's thinking about are never-ending but so far generally don't include the actual math worksheet she's supposed to finish. I realized recently that for us the biggest problem was with math. I don't know if this is true for you but for my dd she could finish a page in about 5 minutes or it could take 2 hours if she was unfocused. After reading some threads here I realized I was moving too slowly with the curriculum and she was bored. When she made up her mind to do the problems she did them quickly and acurately. What I started doing was accelerating her math. There have been a few threads about that lately. Here's one where I included the way we are accelerating. Several others answered as well so it might be helpful. For my dd, changing up the way we do math has made a tremendous difference. http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=325904&highlight=how+accelerate+math

Thanks for the info. I'll add stream2me to my list to check out.

I have an iPad 2 and but I'm not sure how to make pinch to zoom work. I tried doing what I do in other apps but it doesn't zoom. I'm sure it's operator error so an explanation of when and how pinch to zoom works would be helpful. I also agree with Spycar that bookmarks or saved pages within notes would be helpful. Overall, the app is working great for both note taking and annotating pdf's.

I am still debating exactly how much memory we need on each if we buy 2 more iPads for our household. I was doing some research about how to store & manage content that will be used occasionally. I found this article and plan to check out Air Video since my iTunes is on a windows pc. Has anyone else tried this? I'm also wondering if this or one of the Virtual network computing programs might allow access to flash video via my laptop. I use Teamviewer to access my laptop remotely now but haven't tried viewing flash content yet. http://gizmodo.com/5519283/how-to-access-your-entire-computer-from-an-ipad

I had a similar realization several weeks ago about my dd and math. In her case, math isn't her favorite subject but she learns quickly & I realized part of her dislike was result of being bored. I use MUS but I'm pretty sure you would accelerate mm in a similar manner. Mus books are 30 chapters/lessons. There are 3 worksheets a week focused on the new topic, 3 more that have problems on the new topic plus a systematic review of previously learned concepts & a test. There are also three unit tests and final exam. I was making her do all worksheets for each lesson. When she wanted to get done she could do a page front in about 10 minutes. Other days it would take her an hour to do the same thing because she was bored. She rarely made errors other than the occasional careless mistake. I sat her down and explained that I thought she was bored and that I wanted to make math a better experience for both of us. I told her if she worked hard and did her best we could do less drill and repetition and spend more time doing some fun math and reading living books about math. Now we watch the lesson DVD together and then I watch her work a few sample problems. If she seems to have the concept down I let her take the test. If she gets the answers right we move on to the next lesson. If she seems to need more help when I watch her work the problems I have her do one of the last 3 worksheets for the week that include the review. If she does well with that I either let her take the test that day or the next. We are spending less time on math but she's now reading lots of math related living books and enjoying them. This system is working well, she likes math better now and she's still passing all tests. She rarely misses more than one answer and always finds her mistake when checking. This tells me that I was indeed holding her back. The only downside to this approach is that we've moved through 23 of the 30 lessons in about a month so I just had to order the next level of curriculum which I originally planned to start next September.

There is a whole chapter on the topic in Ordinary Parent's guide to Teaching Reading.

How did you decide what level workbook to use? How far along are you in the MCT island series? I'm just starting to look at the KISS site but thought you might have some tips for what level to use.

I'm not sure how to link to app store but if you search for notability and Dropbox they show up as iPad apps. Dropbox is free. After you download the app you'll get an email with instructions for setting it up on your computer too. Both the app & the computer software are free for up to 2gb of storage. After you set it up notability auto syncs with Dropbox & saves your notes & pdf's.

I will thank her. Not only was I unlikely to figure that out on my own I told her the box didn't change when she asked me how to make it small again. She just laughed & said, "that's funny because I just made it big so I'm pretty sure you can make it small..here let me show you." :lol: I'm off to check out KISS grammar to see what I can dowload. If I can just get dh to agree to get another iPad so she we don't have to share I'm thinking I can get rid a lot of paper. I was thinking earlier that we used to carry lots of books, schoolwork, crayons, pencils, an mp3 player, a portable DVD player, a case full of dvd's, and a computer when we traveled. I can now see the ability to have her bring only the iPad but have the ability to do everything she could do with all that other stuff PLUS play her educational apps.

We use the Khan academy app on the ipad and it works fine. You can also watch Youtube videos, netflix, etc. There's a BrainPop app that allows you to watch a free video a day and/or access all their content from the subscription.

Cute picture, I love the green glasses. DD is doing her math on the ipad in Notability right now. She loves it. She also figured out how to make that selection box you use for zoomed writing bigger so you can see the whole problem at once. Yes, the 6 year old figured it out but I'm not embarrased because I'm her teacher. It was an accident because we're normally using the stylus and it's a 2 finger operation. With one finger near the top left of the fectable and the other near the bottom right you can make it bigger and smaller by moving your fingers out and in on a diagonal.

:iagree: If she would have to be left at the hotel when he leaves to go to meetings I wouldn't do it. There are too many things that could go wrong even if she's mature.

I would say yes if the meetings were at the hotel. If he has to leave her at the hotel I wouldn't feel as comfortable. If she could go to the meeting location and stay in the meeting room or one nearby reading/doing schoolwork/playing then I would say yes. DD travels with us a lot and does that sort of thing while we're in meetings. This probably isn't available in a rural area but some nicer hotels have professional sitters available. I've never used the service but it's been available when we've traveled for several large meetings that were in resort type places.

Until you get in to a routine I would agree with pp who say scale back to basics and start with a few subjects and slowly add as you get more in to the swing of things. It's probably too early to think about switching curriculum. Just try to make what you have work for you. I think a lot of new homeschoolers (myself included) feel like you have to set up your school just like the ps. Trying to get every subject in everyday and check things off your list is stressful and unneccesary. You mentioned trouble with math. It I were you I would start with Bible, Math & Reading daily and then depending on how long that takes add another subject or two. The additional subject can change from day to day so you're getting to everything but not in the same day. Actual instruction time shouldn't be more than 2 or 3 hours per day. I think there were other threads recently that mentioned that the time suggestions in the book are not realistic. Very few people actually spend the amount of time schooling per day that you would if you spent the time recommended in each section of well-trained mind. I believe SWB had to make some adjustments to those times to get the book published.

This is pretty close to what our schedule looks like. I'm also in TX and find taking time off in times other than the summer works best for us. I also find that life has forced unplanned time off several times so working year round prevents us falling behind even when we have times where life gets in the way of our plans. I try never to go more than a week with no work but occasionally we will have 2 or 3 weeks where we do a minimalist schedule because of travel. We might only do 2 or 3 lessons a day and then she spends lots of time reading. We never skip math for more than a few days. I've found that even when traveling or on vacation dd's behavior benefits from at least doing something for 10 or 15 minutes in the morning and keeping her routines.

I do find moving that little selection box around inconvenient and wish I could change it's size. I think it's less of a problem for me when I take notes because it automatially moves down to the less line. Things I didn't like about PDF Expert: 1) you can't change file names & it gives things weird names when you import files 2) Even with the stylus I find it very difficult to write neatly on files so I don't think drawing will be any better. 3) You can't add pages to files. With both Noterize & Notability you can add and insert pages to existing files. Those pages can be lined, blank white pages, photos, web captures, etc. 4) I find the switching between annotate and zoom to be more difficult Overall it just seems to be designed more for business use than personal. It has cool features for use in business like the easy typing on documents, the ability to strikethrough text on a doc by selecting it, the ability to save your signature to insert on forms & the ability to capture customer signatures. All of those are good features and I wouldn't say I dislike the app. I like it for business use but not for school or personal.

I will make the request. I still like the writing box at the bottom now that I'm used to it but would like the ability to zoom the content at the top so I can easily read the numbers on the worksheet. The stylus works great. My dh is a bit of a neat freak and is constantly cleaning my ipad screen. I initially bought it so dd wouldn't get sticky fingers all over the screen all the time but I find myself using it constantly. I find writing in notability feels and looks just like writing in a notebook for me. The link is for the stylus we bought. I spent $20 on one and lost it in a day so we found this cheaper option that has a cord to attach it to the headphone jack. I think RegGuheert was ordering one for his son that was a little more expensive and magnetic. I'm pretty sure my dd who is 6 could still manage to lose the magnetic one and the cheap one is working great. We bought 2 in case we lost one and the second one hasn't been opened. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004HO86P6/ref=oh_o01_s00_i00_details

I have PDF expert and don't find myself using it much. I can see myself using it for business transactions in the future but right now our ipad is used mostly for school and personal stuff. I like both Noterize/Paperport and Notability better for taking notes and/or writing on on a PDF. PDF expert seems a little easier to use for typing on a PDF which is why I might use it for business transactions in the future. Right now I have some forms I use that have to be printed and mailed but in the future we're going to be able fax them. I can see using PDF expert to type in the data and then sign the form before faxing. I also use the strikethrough mode on there to mark out items purchased on a menu planner I have in PDF mode. I like the ability in Noterize/Paperport to toggle between zoomed writing and the non-annotation mode for moving/re-sizing the page by double-clicking. This was a workable solution before I found Notability. The writing in Notability just turns out looking much better. In both Noterize & PDF expert the writing looks jerky and much less readable. FWIW I didn't like the large box on the bottom for zoomed writing at first but after a few uses now it's working well for me and I love it. DD didn't have any problem adjusting to it. Probably because her vision is better and she could still read the small numbers on her worksheet just fine when they weren't zoomed and didn't have to look at the large box for anything but writing. Overall, the discovery of these apps means I probably won't carry a paper notebook anywhere to take notes again. That is revolutionary for me because I'm a huge note taker. I take notes at church, in meetings, while reading, etc. I'm also considering moving a considerable amount of dd's worksheets and schoolwork in to pdf's and putting them on the ipad.

Yes, we use the sylus for both Notability and a Doodle app. Notability in the zoom/highlight mode is perfect for cursive practice. I plan to use it next week while we're traveling.

I downloaded this apps last week too and so far love it. We were using noterize/paper port which worked ok but this is much better. I either use Dropbox to get pdf's to the iPad or my printer app which allows me to scan directly on to iPad. Occasionally if I'm away from my computer I'll take a picture of the page with the camera and use that. It's not the preferred method but it works. I prefer the notability app because of the zoom option for writing. Have you used the icon at the bottom to bring up the large box to write in. Right now dd's work is turning out neater in the iPad than on paper. Her math skills are better than her writing skills so on paper the numbers are big & sloppy buy on the iPad she writes them big but they are the right size on the problem. Noterize allowed pinch & zoom but the writing didn't turn out as neat. She did her math worksheet last night and seemed to like the format. Once you bring up the zoom box you just move the selection box on the screen to where you want to write. I'v found this to work much better for taking notes also. It automatically goes to the next line when you get to the end of a row and the large writing space seems to make my handwriting look better than writing in the noterize zoom mode. These things are always hard to explain so hopefully this makes sense.

This is very similar to the review that was in the technology section of "The Daily" which is a newspaper designed directly for the ipad. I'm not sure how to get to old articles and I don't think you can post them but it sounds like these two reviews were done by the same person.

Expode the Code is inexpensive and easy to use for a motivated 4 year old. I'll also add another recommendation for MUS. The blocks and curriculum were a big hit for dd when we switched from Horizon to MUS. ETA: Just saw that you're already doing the get set for the code books. That's what happens when you are doing 3 other things while reading and posting on the board.